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+---
+title: "Hypertrophy Principles"
+date: 2023-01-18
+---
+
+Thank you, Dr. Mike Israetel and Renaissance Periodization, for teaching me most
+of what I know about muscle growth. The concepts in this post give a good idea
+of how people can grow muscle according to sports science. While the data and
+evidence are likely to be correct, there is a chance it could be wrong, as with
+everything in science.
+
+After reading this article, you will notice most people do not follow these
+principles, yet some have muscle. Building muscle can be as simple as training
+consistently, progressing by adding volume, and eating in a caloric surplus with
+plenty of protein. The nuances do matter though! As you advance, more of the
+training variables will need to be correct for you to grow. The hypertrophy
+principles show how to build muscle **optimally and safely** over the long-term.
+
+## Exercise Selection
+
+### Stimulus
+
+How do you know you are growing muscle? The stimulus proxies listed below are
+signs that muscle growth will occur.
+
+Target muscle experiences:
+- Tension
+- Burn
+- Pump
+- Fatigue and soreness
+
+Pick exercises that cause most or all the stimulus proxies. Avoid exercises that
+hurt your joints or cause high systemic fatigue. The exercise should fatigue the
+target muscle without fatiguing the nervous or cardiovascular systems. Lots of
+systemic fatigue will hinder the rest of the session and could hinder future
+sessions. Maximize the stimulus-to-fatigue ratio. Aim for the most stimulus
+proxies with the least systemic fatigue.
+
+### Movement Patterns
+
+The six primary movement patterns have the most stimulus since they are compound
+exercises targeting more than 1 muscle. Most of your time in the gym should be
+spent performing primary movement patterns.
+
+Primary Movement Patterns:
+- Horizontal Push (flat press)
+- Vertical Push (incline press)
+- Horizontal Pull (row)
+- Vertical Pull (pull-up)
+- Squat
+- Hip Hinge (deadlift)
+
+Secondary movement patterns and isolation exercises target muscles only slightly
+used during primary movement patterns. For example, the triceps are used during
+a horizontal push like the bench press, but if you want to grow your triceps,
+you should also do an elbow extension like the pushdown. I will go into
+detail about when and how many secondary movement patterns you need in the
+volume section.
+
+Secondary Movement Patterns:
+- Shoulder Adduction (chest flye)
+- Shoulder Abduction (rear delt flye)
+- Elbow Flexion (curl)
+- Elbow Extension (pushdown)
+- Knee Flexion (leg curl)
+- Knee Extension (leg extension)
+- Lateral Raise
+- Calf Raise
+- Spinal Flexion (abs)
+
+## Technique
+
+Proper exercise technique is essential to muscle growth. Before adding weight,
+ensure proper technique to stimulate the target muscle and reduce the risk of
+injury. The target muscle should be the limiting factor. In other words, as you
+near the end of a set, the target muscle should be close to failure and the
+factor preventing you from continuing. Remember that every repetition should
+look the same, so you can keep a log and continue to progress every week.
+
+Fundamentals:
+- Full and standard range of motion
+- Controlled eccentric (negative)
+- Don't cheat (using non-target muscles or momentum)
+- Limiting tension and burn in the target muscle
+- Joints feel good
+
+## Warm Up
+
+Warming up decreases the risk of injury, makes your technique more efficient and
+targeted to the muscle you want to grow, and primes your nervous system so you
+can produce the most force.
+
+1. Optional: Easy cardio for 5-10 minutes
+2. Starting Weight: begin with a weight you can do for at least 20 reps and
+   perform 10-12
+3. Intermediate Sets: do at least 1 weight halfway between your starting and
+   working weights (the heavier the working weight, the more warm up sets)
+4. Potentiation (primes nervous system): do your working weight for 2-3 reps
+
+For every exercise after the first, only do the intermediate and potentiation
+sets.
+
+## Loading and Rep Ranges
+
+Anything between 30 and 85% of your 1 rep max is good for muscle growth. This
+converts to roughly 5-30 reps where you get close to failure. Heavy compound
+movements like squats and rows are best in the 5-15 rep range. Isolation and
+machine movements are best in the 10-25 rep range.
+
+## Rest
+
+Check all 4 before beginning the next set:
+1. Target muscle can perform at least 5 reps
+2. Cardio will not limit you
+3. Nervous system will not limit you
+4. Non-target muscles will not limit you
+
+## Intensity
+
+Reps in reserve (RIR) is how many reps you have left in the tank at the end of a
+set. 5 RIR and above is suboptimal for muscle growth. Decreasing RIR linearly
+increases muscle growth. But, decreasing RIR exponentially increases fatigue. 0
+RIR (failure) grows more muscle than 4 RIR, but at the cost of much more
+fatigue. The best approach is to start at 3-4 RIR and, 4-8 weeks later, end at 0-1
+RIR. Add weight and/or reps each week to keep RIR the same or decrease it by 1.
+This way, you will work through an RIR range to manage fatigue and maximize
+muscle growth. At the beginning of a program, muscles are more sensitive to
+training, so you can start at a higher RIR than you would need towards the end
+of a program. Starting at 0 RIR would leave you no room to grow and would take
+longer to recover from. When you reach failure and/or are no longer progressing,
+enough fatigue accumulated that you need a deload to clear it.
+
+## Frequency
+
+The number of weekly sessions depends on the intensity and volume of each
+session. A recovered muscle can perform normally or better and is not sore. A
+good rule of thumb is to train each muscle group 2-4 times per week. The larger
+the muscle group, the longer it will take to recover and the fewer times you can
+train it. For example, hamstrings take much longer to recover than side delts.
+So, train hamstrings about twice per week and side delts closer to 3-4 times.
+
+## Volume
+
+The amount of work you do is defined as volume (force * distance). In the gym,
+this is weight * range of motion (ignore this since it should always be the
+same). Simply put, weight * number of reps. Add all your sets for the same
+muscle group together to get the total volume for that session. Volume drives
+muscle growth but comes with fatigue.
+
+Maintenance Volume (MV): the least volume that maintains muscle size
+- Gives muscles a break and allows them to recover completely
+- Useful for situations like vacations or injuries where sessions are shorter
+  and less often
+
+Minimum Effective Volume (MEV): the least volume that grows muscle
+- Gives a mild pump, fatigue, and soreness
+- Where you should start during the first week of a program
+
+Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV): the most volume a muscle can recover from
+before training it again
+- Can still match or beat your last performance
+- Where you should end during the last week of a program
+
+Key Takeaway: spend most of your time progressing from MEV to MRV week to week
+and drop to MV occasionally to resensitize your muscles to training
+
+### Estimates
+
+*Note: these are weekly volumes in terms of sets per week and should be broken
+into 2-4 weekly sessions*
+
+- Chest
+  - MEV: 8
+  - MRV: 20-25
+- Triceps
+  - MEV: 6
+  - MRV: 16-20
+- Side and Rear Delts
+  - MEV: 8
+  - MRV: 25-30
+- Back
+  - MEV: 10
+  - MRV: 20-25
+- Biceps
+  - MEV: 8
+  - MRV: 20-25
+- Quadriceps
+  - MEV: 8
+  - MRV: 18-22
+- Hamstrings
+  - MEV: 4
+  - MRV: 12-16
+- Calves
+  - MEV: 8
+  - MRV: 16-25
+- Abs
+  - MEV: 0-6
+  - MRV: 25
+
+Most programs use compound exercises that already involve the triceps, delts,
+and biceps. Triceps, delts, and biceps volumes take that into account and only
+include isolation exercise sets. For example, pull-ups target the back but also
+involve the biceps. Since the biceps were already hit, fewer sets of curls are
+needed.
+
+I did not include front delts, glutes, and traps volumes because these muscles
+get stimulated during other compound exercises. Their MEV is 0, like ab's.
+
+## Periodization
+
+Time Periods:
+- Set: 5-30 reps
+- Exercise: 1-5 sets
+- Session: 2-6 exercises (1-3 per muscle)
+- Microcycle: 1 week of training
+- Mesocycle: 3-12 weeks
+- Block: 1-4 mesocycles
+- Macrocycle: 1-4 blocks
+
+A mesocycle has an accumulation phase and a deload phase. The accumulation phase
+(increasing performance) should last between 4 and 8 weeks. Begin your first
+week of accumulation with 3-4 RIR and start at your MEV. For MEV, use the volume
+estimates as a guideline but autoregulate based on the stimulus proxies. Do
+enough sets to get the target muscle slightly pumped and fatigued, and then
+stop. Write down the weight, sets, and reps for each exercise. When you do the
+same session next week, add some combination of weight, sets, and reps to keep
+RIR the same or decrease it by 1. The goal is to beat your performance from last
+week.
+
+Add Sets From Last Week:
+
+- 1-2 if you had very little pump and soreness last time and recovered ahead of
+  time
+- 0-1 if you had a good pump and soreness last time and recovered on time
+- 0 if you were still sore when you planned to train that muscle again
+
+Progression:
+
+Heavy compounds and easily loadable machines (can add 5 lbs) are better for load
+increases. Because the jumps in weight are too large, heavy dumbbells and not
+easily loadable machines are better for rep and set increases.
+
+- If sets and weight stay then add 1 rep each set
+- If sets stay and weight increases then rep match last week
+- If sets increase and weight stays then rep match last week and perform a new
+  set at the new RIR
+- If sets and weight increase then rep match last week and perform a new set at
+  the new RIR
+
+### Deload
+
+In the last week of your accumulation phase, you will reach failure and/or no
+longer progress. Plan a deload for next week. In the first half of the week, do
+half the sets and reps with the same weight as the last week of your
+accumulation phase. In the second half of the week, do half the sets, reps, and
+weight.
+
+### Block
+
+After the deload, you have completed your first mesocycle! Repeat this process
+for another 0-3 mesocycles to make up a block. Each mesocycle, consider swapping
+in new exercises that did not result in any personal records, gave you little
+pump, or caused joint pain.
+
+### Maintenance
+
+After a block, your body will be extremely fatigued. Your muscles need a break
+to heal and resensitize to training. One option is a low volume maintenance
+phase of 3-4 weeks where you do a third of your usual weekly sets in the 5-10
+rep range. Only train muscles 1-2 times per week. The alternative is to take a
+2-3 week active rest phase with almost no lifting.
+
+## Nutrition
+
+Track your calorie intake and weight regularly. After a week or two, you will
+know your maintenance calories (calories to maintain bodyweight). You can use
+15 calories per pound of bodyweight for a starting estimate.
+
+- Protein builds muscle (4 calories per gram)
+- Carbs provide mental and physical energy and potentiate muscle growth with
+  insulin and glycogen (4 calories per gram)
+- Fats keep hormones and health metrics up (9 calories per gram)
+
+Protein intake should be roughly 1 gram per pound of bodyweight per day. Fat
+intake should be 0.3-0.5 grams per pound of bodyweight per day. Carb intake
+should fill the remaining calories.
+
+### Bulk
+
+Gain 0.25-0.5% bodyweight per week over 8-16 weeks. Add 250 calories to your
+maintenance calories to gain about half a pound per week. Add 500 calories to
+your maintenance calories to gain about 1 pound per week.
+
+### Maintenance
+
+Your body will want to go back to its old weight after you finish bulking. This
+phase allows you to stay at your current weight and solidify the muscle you
+gained. Remove half of your surplus (whatever you added to your maintenance
+calories). Your maintenance calorie intake is higher now because you are
+heavier. You will lose some water weight by removing half of your surplus. But,
+it should not exceed 2% of your bodyweight. If you continue to lose weight, add
+250 calories.
+
+### Mini Cut
+
+This phase is to cut the fat you gained during bulking and to potentiate muscle
+growth. For 4-6 weeks, lose 0.75-1.25% bodyweight per week. Remove 750 calories
+from your maintenance calories to lose 1.5 pounds per week. Remove 1000 calories
+from your maintenance calories to lose 2 pounds per week.